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THE LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS ^®
OF SHELTER ISLAND

Notes on the Town Board Work Session
March 18, 2008

All present except Ed Brown

Jim began meeting by stating that “the days of wine and roses were over”. There will be tough choices and challenges ahead. The board will begin a quarterly review of the budget soon.
The $985,000 that FEMA had withdrawn from the Shell Beach project appears to be re-approved, we have been informed.
The county has not yet paid the $155,000 for this year’s obligation to the 4-poster program. Next year’s allocation request has been tabled for the time being.
Six 4-posters have been installed thus far. Nine more will be in place by Thursday. Ten additional ones have been approved for Mashomack.
The fly-by, to count the deer, which was scheduled for last week, was postponed due to poor weather. It will take place soon.

1/ROUSH RECHARGE REPORT
Tom Roush, of Little Ram, reported on the success of a rainwater recharge system which he installed on his property 9 months ago. It takes pooled rainwater, stores it in a holding tank, and returns it to the aquifer. It has succeeded in recharging 18,000 gallons thus far. Tom, and the town, had hoped for a greater yield. With some minor tweaks and a little more rain, all felt that the goals could be achieved. The system that Mr. Roush engineered could be a model for others to use in the future.

2/SKATEBOARD AREA
Garth Griffin reported on the progress of the area being established for skateboarding.
The original location was to be at the town dump. It was decided that there was the potential for too much vehicular traffic. A more suitable location was selected, between the Highway Dept. building and the sand pit. It will be resurfaced and 3 structures will be built with the effort and guidance of Phil Mancini and Jim Richardson. A risk management expert has reviewed the site and plans. Several suggestions were made and Garth has incorporated them in the plans. There will be no supervision. Signs will explain the rules. 12-15 middle school students are very enthusiastic and have raise $400 already. No completion date was mentioned.

3/MS4 IMPLEMENTATION
Mark Ketcham reported that we are ahead of the curve in the 6 steps of compliance.
All catch basins do not have to be tagged. 20% have to be tested each year using a simple test. We have to issue an annual report as to our progress.

4/DRAFT CODE RETAINING WALLS
Peter Reich reported that since the better pieces of property have been built on, more construction is taking place on lower elevation or uneven lots. Therefore, the use of retaining walls has greatly increased. It was agreed that the height of a wall and the distance between multiple walls (terracing), was both safety and aesthetic issues (for neighbors looking at your wall from their property). Therefore clear rules must be in place. The height and distance were debated in absolute terms (ex. No more that 10 feet high) and ratios (ex.. the distance between two walls must be twice the height of the first wall.) No conclusion was reached.
William Banks also brought up the need for a rule regarding the height of berms and the fences atop them. This will also be discussed in the future.

5/CODE PENALTIES
The consensus was that fines were insufficient and outdated. For example, if someone does not acquire a permit, begins building and gets caught, all he has to do is get a permit at the original fee. Some towns charge a penalty of 2-10X the original fee for disregarding the process. The board reviewed a document that had been prepared for them and were pleased with its contents. This document was not shared with the audience.

6/DRAFT COPY - C/O POLICY
All agreed with Jim’s suggestion that when a C of O is requested for a previously inspected property, the document should be stamped: “This document reflects conditions at the time it was issued.”

7/CROCKER WETLAND APPLICATION COMPLETENESS
After a very lengthy examination of building plans, it was decided that the application did not properly deal with location of hay bales or percent of impervious square footage in relation to lot size. Regarding the latter, it was not clear if the driveway and tennis court were in the calculations. The Crocker’s will be informed of such.

8/ 2% LAW
The 10th Anniversary of the law is coming up this year.
There is consideration being given to changing the existing law. Jim feels that it has been very successful and should stay the way it is. Other towns want to be able to use the funds for other than land purchase. Some towns would like to build swimming pools, buy Bay Street Theatre, hire staff, provide for stewardship of property. This is an ongoing discussion.
Jim also reported that all the Klenawicus’ have signed the agreement to sell their 37 acre property through the 2% committee.

9/CONSIDER COMPREHENSIVE PLAN COMMITTEE
The town board is considering a new committee to revisit our Comprehensive Plan and we need members.
Chris suggested that the Planning Board undertake the assignment.
Peter suggested that people from each Town committee participate.
Jim suggested that in addition to members of existing committees, we bring new blood with, perhaps, new ideas.
It was determined that once an agreed upon committee was formed, it would be given a deadline to complete their report.

10/AROUND THE TABLE

Jim heard from Cliff Clark that Suffolk Co. many approve, as is, the South Ferry rate increases as soon as tonight.
Glen met with Mark Alessi and LIPA. He requested that a LIPA employee be stationed on the island. LIPA countered with the promise that anytime the Board or Chief Read felt that there was an impending emergency, they would immediately send someone.
Chris reported that on April 15, someone would be here to discuss “Dark Skies”.

Submitted by: Marc Wein

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Updated March 18, 2008